US economy added 227,000 jobs in January 2017, which is way above economists’ forecasts of about 175,000.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the figure compares with December’s rise of 157,000, revised up slightly from last month’s first estimate.
However, average pay barely rose, and the number of people working part-time but looking for full-time work rose.
The jobs growth suggests that new president Donald Trump has inherited a stronger jobs market.
President Trump has promised to create 25 million jobs over 10 years to become “the greatest jobs president… ever”.
President Barack Obama’s term from January 2009-2017 saw the number of people with jobs increase by 11.25 million.
The job gains in January 2017 occurred in retailing, construction, and financial activities.
The number of unemployed people at 7.6 million was little changed. The unemployment rate edged up slightly to 4.8% from 4.7% in December 2016, but this was due to more people looking for work.
The percentage of adults working or looking for jobs increased to its highest level since September.
As a US presidential candidate, Donald Trump frequently argued that the government’s jobs data exaggerated the health of the economy.
Donald Trump called the unemployment rate a “hoax” and said it declined after the recession under Barack Obama mainly because many Americans stopped working or looking for work.
